[troydavis]

This is inaccurate. The things you list (car, computer, other consumer purchases) are not personal deductions under the US tax system.

Relatively few personal purchases are deductible. The most heavily used personal deduction is mortgage interest (interest, not principal). Otherwise most personal deductions are things like tuition, major healthcare expenses, tax paid elsewhere (sales, property), and alimony payments.

And for a majority of Americans, none of these things actually appear on their tax return. Only 41% of American taxpayers file a return listing the deductions above ("itemize"), usually because they carry a mortgage.

The other 59% just take a single deduction ("standard deduction") of about $5800 per adult (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_deduction).

Finally, if someone found legitimate ways to deduct the things you listed (for example, they were unreimbursed business expenses), they would run into the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). AMT is a floor on the percent of income which must be paid as tax. In calculating AMT, most deductions get ignored (and it ignores one's effective tax rate in other years).

[bricestacey]

There are a lot of available credits though.

The American Opportunity/Hope and Lifetime Learning Credits can be applied when using the standard deduction. Also, many cars have significant tax credits though it seems the bar has been raised.

[pilib]

concise and informative, thanks ;).